Factorial vs BambooHR
Factorial is a European alternative to BambooHR — same hr & recruitment use case, built under EU data-protection law.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Manage HR, payroll, time tracking, recruitment, and performance reviews for your whole team — all-in-one, GDPR-compliant, and built for European SMEs.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- GDPR by default
- Yes
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
BambooHR by BambooHR.
- Jurisdiction
- US
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
About Factorial
Factorial is a Barcelona-based all-in-one HR software platform for SMEs, covering payroll, time tracking, recruitment, performance reviews, onboarding, and IT asset management in a single product. Built for teams without a dedicated HR department, it automates administrative work that typically consumes hours of manager time each week.
An employee self-service portal handles time-off requests, shift changes, expense submissions, and document signing without HR intervention. Payroll automation calculates gross-to-net and generates compliant payslips, while a recruitment module tracks candidates from application to signed offer. Integrations connect to Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and major payroll providers.
Key benefits:
- Payroll automation with compliant payslip generation and expense management
- Time tracking and shift scheduling with mobile clock-in and overtime calculation
- Recruitment module for managing job postings, applications, and hiring pipelines
- Performance reviews with 360° feedback, goal setting, and development tracking
- Automated onboarding with document templates, task checklists, and e-signatures
- IT asset management for tracking devices and SaaS subscriptions per employee
- Employee self-service portal for time-off requests, payslips, and documents
- ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified for information security and data handling
Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, Factorial is fully GDPR-compliant with all data hosted in the EU. It holds ISO/IEC 27001 certification and SOC 2 Type I and II reports. Founded in 2016 by Jordi Romero and Bernat Farrero, it now serves 15,000+ companies across Europe.
Companies report a 60% reduction in administrative hours — ideal for European SMEs that need full HR infrastructure without enterprise complexity or cost.
Why choose Factorial over BambooHR?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. BambooHR is headquartered in US, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes — the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Factorial removes that overhead. As a Spain-based provider, it operates natively under GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors — health, public administration, finance — that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single non-EU jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.